What It Takes to Be Fluent in Chinese

Every Chinese learner wants to reach a fluent level of Chinese speaking in the fastest way possible. However, that depends on how much time you spend, how good you are at learning languages and what you mean by “fluent.”

Many people feel frustrated about speaking Chinese fluently because they don’t know what “fluent” means. What Does It Mean to Be Fluent in Chinese? There are many definitions and perspectives floating out there. On the most basic level, being fluent in Chinese means that you can speak Chinese on everyday topics without slowing down too much. It’s not all about filling your expressions with too many fancy Chinese slang words or classic idioms, though those things will certainly help you along the way. Being fluent means you’re able to make yourself understood. It means that you understand the conversation well enough to be able to keep the conversation in a meaningful way. Like online Chinese classes for kids, it should be interactive and two-way communications.

For most people, when speaking of “fluency”, they seem to refer to speaking only, but it is actually two-way matter. Language is a tool for communication. Being able to hold a meaningful conversation in Chinese requires you to understand what the other party is saying and respond to that with relevant phrases of your own. It’s certainly possible to speaking in a manner which sounds very fluent while not understanding what the other person is saying, but this is quite meaningless. Being able to speak Chinese is only one side of the equation, being able to understand is at least as important. When you have this concept in mind, you will have a clear understanding on which parts of Chinese you will need to work on, instead of only focusing on speaking.

You always find yourself in a situation, where you can express yourself, but not smoothly enough. What do you need to do? Practice, practice and more practice! You don’t need more words or grammar, you just need to listen and speak more.

Easier said than done! “How do I practice?” you may ask.

There’s a relatively easy way to do it. There are many phrases in any language that carry almost some meaning. You can try to practice speaking these phrases as fast as you can, and then use them in sentences. After you have handled lots of these phrases, you will find you are speaking them out as a way of habit, instead of searching from word to word when you are conducting a Chinese conversation. Of course, the most difficult part is not memorizing lots of these phrases, but the time and effort that you put practicing them!

In order to converse freely in Chinese, one also has to have relative good ability of listening comprehension. Like we mentioned above, if you speak without listening, everything is meaningless. So, to speak Chinese to a fluent level, you should not only polish on your listening, but your listening ability as well. Eastasiastudent has a blog article on How to improve your Chinese listening in the early stages .

Besides taking advantage of free online learning resources, you can also try to practice your Chinese speaking (and listening as well) through 1on1 Chinese class online. It’s cool to speak to a skype Chinese tutor at your preferred time and place, because the cost is low and you don’t need to waste a lot of time commuting to local schools.

Again, the best way to learn this is to listen closely to how Chinese people do this when speaking with you or with each other. Many students dream of becoming fluent in Chinese but ultimately feel discouraged by the difficulty of the task. I’m here to tell you that fluency is definitely within reach and that with the right kind of practice, you can become fluent too!